A Christmas Tree Story.

For the past three years, Jim and I have had a fake tree from Kmart that cost us $20. Last year, our little tree died. Since then, my mom handed down a fake tree from my aunt joan. I was eager to open it up and set it up. We wanted to get a real tree, but decided to try my aunt's tree first. Although the branches were sturdier and fuller, the tree only came up to about Jim's abdomen. Therefore, we moved that tree into our bedroom to become the "Heritage Tree."

After much hemming and hawing, Jim finally agreed to at least go look for a tree. We needed a stand to go with it too. I had some errands to run, so I told him to try Menards and then I called to inform him that Home Depot also had some good deals.

When I got back in my car, after a 15 min. store run, I saw I had missed a call two minutes earlier. I called Jim back and he stated that he couldn't find Menards behind the movie theater - even with following the big signs. He seemed frustrated. He decided Home Depot would be a better, especially since it could be found! There were three different trees, in various sizes. 3'-4': $16, 6'-8': $26, Over 9' or a different kind of tree: Over $40.

Within three minutes, Jim found the tree he wanted (middle category) and had found a stand for a good price. He arrived home and armed with a knife, I met him in the driveway. He untied the tree and met me upstairs. The process was incredibly quick and within a half hour, we bought a tree, bought a stand, drove home, brought it upstairs, set up the stand, set up the tree, cut the string, fluffed the tree, watered the tree, positioned the tree skirt and placed the star atop it. Not bad...this experience was memorable without being stressful.

Now if we could only find Menards...